Property for Sale

Barn conversion - large open space with beams showing, housing lounge/kitchen/dining room.

Three double bedrooms (1 mezzanine).

Large shower room.

Large barn under used as a games room and also under is a work shop housing central heating boiler.

Large garden to the rear and patio area

The barn conversion is currently let in summer

To the front is gravelled parking and also a large open barn and a small semi converted barn with its own patio, the whole property is surrounded by its own land, and also has its own field.

STATELY FARMHOUSE ON THE RIVER L’ISLE

Les Gaunies is a secluded hamlet set in a wooded area on the edge of the River L’isle … yet just 15 minutes from the historic town of Perigueux, capital city of the Dordogne Blanc.

The house was originally constructed in local stone at the end of the 16^th Century; later it became a farmhouse tied to the estate of the Marquis de Riberac, whose handsome chateau (Des Bories) is a short walk away.

It’s a classic Dordogne mas: its thick walls keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter, and its only immediate neighbours are two other family-occupied stone houses. A large field edged by oaks and chestnuts presents an open aspect from the sitting room; here silence rules and the loudest noise is the babble of the river at the end of the field. The surrounding woods are home to muntjac deer, wild boar and rabbits: preservation orders on these woods and an agricultural lien on the fields means that under present regulations the area is protected from development.

Despite this seclusion the shops of the nearest village – Sarliac Sur L’Isle – are five minutes away, and the city of Perigueux offers sophisticated boutiques and delicatessens, food markets, street cafes and restaurants, a multi-screen cinema complex, a theatre and – on its outskirts - large shopping complexes.

Limoges, with its airport and station is 60 miles away (though because it’s in a different, colder weather belt it seems further) – and Bergerac Airport, served by low-cost airlines Ryan Air and Flybe, can be reached in less than an hour.

The house is in the classic Dordogne farmhouse style, constructed from large blocks of locally-quarried pale stone under eaves of oak and chestnut; the beams in most of the rooms are exposed. The floors on the ground level are tiled; the upper floors are in natural wood (not laminate.) The heart of the home is the living room (6.7metres by 5.1 metres) with high stone walls, broad-planked chestnut ceiling and nine exposed chestnut beams. A large open fireplace is presently occupied by a wrought iron wood-burning fire. An arched clerestory window looks up towards the tree-clad hills above the river; one set of French doors opens out onto the garden and overlooks the agricultural fields where sometimes cows graze, the other opens out onto a wooden-decked leisure area with a shady olive tree, a tiled swimming pool and poolside dining area which itself falls away to garden.

The garden area covers 2,400 square metres, mostly laid to grass with beds stocked with colourful perennials.

Through a square arch is the kitchen, a typical stone-walled farmhouse kitchen, high-ceilinged, with oak units painted in Provencal blue; being 5.4 metres by 5.2 metres it’s large enough for both food preparation and dining. Stairs lead off the kitchen to the upper landing and two bedrooms.

Off a chestnut wood-beamed corridor is a third bedroom (4.2 metres by 4.5 metres) with exposed beams and a glazed door leading to the olive tree and patio beds; opposite is a stone-walled downstairs bathroom (3 metres x 2.5 metres) complete with bath, shower, toilet, basin and built-in washing machine.

At the far end of the corridor is a large day-room (or 4^th bedroom) 4.7 metres by 3.9 metres, with glass doors that open out onto a lane that leads down to the river.

The hall is bright and spacious ((4.7 metres x 1.6 metres); to the right of the front door there is a high-ceilinged study (7.8 metres by 2.3 metres ) with two exposed oak beams.

A cupboard in one corner of the study gives access to the new oil-fired boiler, the tank of which is accessible in the barn. A stone window looks out over the drive.

Upstairs are two bedrooms separated by a landing; the master bedroom (6.8 metres by 6.6 metres) has its own lockable dressing room and two windows, one overlooking the fields, the other looking towards the river and the tree-clad hills.

The second bedroom (6.6 metres by 2.8 metres) overlooks the field.

Upstairs, between the two bedrooms, is a large modern bathroom (3.4 metres x 5.4 metres )with sloping roof.

Abutting the house is a barn (18 metres x 6.7 metres) with exposed cathedral eaves: most of the conversion work has been done to offer a large living room/kitchen 7 metres high and a staircase leading up to an open area of approximately 54 square metres which could be used as a bedroom-cum-sitting room; an enclosed third bathroom is fully plumbed-in. A balcony to one side overlooks the leisure area, the olive tree, the pool and the patio beds. Further cosmetic work could turn this into a self-contained gite. Further details on request.

Leading straight off the lounge is a large decked area which encloses the 8 metre x 4 metre full concrete pool.

In the long, drowsy Dordogne summer evenings this can be underlit or floodlit, and the area acts as a vast extra room for entertaining.

Classic stone farmhouses in the Dordogne area are now few and far between and this is certainly a classic of its kind. Reached by its own long drive bordered by high poplars and larches to one side and a large front lawn stocked with fruit trees (apple, plum and peach) on the other, it nestles between river and woods in an area of absolute seclusion, yet the activities of the city are fifteen minutes away. Fifteen minutes away on the other side is the truffle capital of the Dordogne (Sorges) and there are many beautiful villages to be explored (Brantome, the Venice of the Dordogne, is a forty minutes drive.)

Best of all, the house itself is fully restored: no further work is necessary. Even the barn – which can be reached through a door in the study - has had the necessary structuring done to ready it for painless conversion into a gite or visitor centre (plumbing is accessible and electricity in place), requiring only flooring and (if required) ceiling boards … that and a measure of imagination.

The property stands on 2400 square metres. But the surrounding land, leading down to the river and across to the brake of trees, is ten times that, and has an agricultural "no-build" order on it. Some of that land might be available for purchase - our neighbour bought three thousand square metres down to his river line for, I believe, 3000 Euros but we decided against pursuing our equivalent as that would involve the cost and effort of maintenance and mowing which the farmer, who leases it for sporadic grazing of his cows, does at no cost, And we're guaranteed the same unbroken view.

The house is being offered for 395,000 euro inclusive: there are no agent’s fees to be paid.

Room Dimensions:

Property for Sale in the Dordogne and the borders

Farm house - Lounge with log burner, fitted kitchen / dining room with log burner.

Barn conversion - large open space with beams showing, housing lounge/kitchen/dining room.